Film for photographic color process



Y May'16, 1939.

J. cs. CAPSTAFF 2,158,174

FILM FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC COLOR PROCESS Ofiginal Filed Oct. 28, 1936 Fig. 1

EXPOSURE Wm$imtvrmmmmm: EMULSION LA YER5 DIFFERENTLY SENSITIZED BLUE GREEN John a. Capslaff I JNVENTOR AV'QTORNEYS Patented May'16, 1939 FILM FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC COLOR PROCESS John G. CapstaitRochestcr, N. Y., assignor to Eastman Kodak'Company, Rochester, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Oi'iginal application October 28, 1936, Serial No. 108,036. Divided and thisapplication December 30, 1937, Serial No. 1 2,515

4 Claims. .(Cl. 95-2) This invention relates'to photographic lenticular film in which the several color separation im ages occupy individual areas on the smooth face of a support and in registration with the lentic- 5 ulations provided on the other face of the support and, more particularly to a film with which the separation of the color images are obtained photographically and useful in the process claimed in my copending application-Serial No. 108,036,

filed October 28,1936, of which this is a division.-

When pictures are taken on lenticular film through a multi-color filter associated with the objective the colored areas of the filter normally see the subject being photographed from different viewpoints. Pictures made in this manner are now known to possess a defect which appears in projection as color fringes-on out-of-focus objects. This defect is believed to be due to the stereo parallax between the different color areas -Of the filter associated with the objective and in my co'pen'ding application Serial No. 703,268, filed December 20, 1933, and in my Patent No. 2,091,699, granted August 31 1907, I describe and claim a method and optical system for eliminating this defect by causing two or more of the filter areas 4 to view the subject being photographed from a common point in space.

The present invention provides a sensitive element for use in a method for eliminating this defect and which, in addition thereto, makes it possible to record pictures on lenticular film without the necessity of providing a camera objective which must meet special requirements, such as a predetermined relativeaperture or the apparent 35 position of the multi-colored filter as viewed by the film.

In accordance withone aspect of my invention a lenticular support is provided on its plane surface with a plurality of diiferentiallysensL tized emulsions which may comprise separate layers, a single layer of mixed particles, or a combination of these, the primary sensitivity of each being for a different one of the component colors desired to be used in the process. The lenticular surface isrendered optically smooth and the resulting film exposed through the support to an image. of the subject to .be recorded. After exposure and before development the lenticulations are restored and a selective fogging 0 exposure is given separate areas behind each lenof the emulsions is unaffected; Alternatively the selective fogging exposure may be given before the camera exposure and before the lenticulaions are rendered optically smooth. Thefilm is necessity of adopting their weaknesses.

ticulation so that in each area a different one then developed by a reversal process to provide a resulting film inwhich the color separation images are in registration behind the lenticulations.

. This film will 'not contain the above-mentioned color fringing effect since all of the color separation views were exposed through the same lens aperture and it may be projected in any well known manner or printed onto a' copy film by any suitable process.

The invention, as broadly outlined above, includes several novel and advantageous features among which may be included the necessity of no special camera optics. The camera exposure is considerably reduced over that required for exposing lenticular film since the color separa-' tion is accomplished subtractively rather than additively and the definition, and, accordingly, the colorv rendition, is greatly improved by combining the best features of both the subtractive and additive color process while eliminating the In accordance with another aspect of my invention I may dispense with the temporaryremoval'of the lenticulations during the camera exposure by arranging the film with its emulsion side facing the incident light. To insure the proper registration of the final images, the selective fogging exposure will of course be given through the support either before or afterthe camera exposure. While this method of practicing the process of my invention is a very simple one, the spectral sensitivity of the emulsions at present available is not entirely satisfactory for the ordinary three component colors because of the requirementtha't'the several emulsions must be selectively exposed with light incident thereon first from one side and then from the other side. This difliculty is not insurmountable, however, and the employment of infra red radiation in connection withsuitable emulsions for making one of the selective fogging exposures makes it possible to practice the process by this particular 5 method.

' Still another way is available for dispensing with the removal of the lenticulations during the camera exposure if the user is willing to employ a camera objective having an aperture which meets the requirement demanded by the apertures of the film lenticulations. In this case the camera exposure would be made through the lenticulations and due to the absence of a multicolor filter at the camera objective, the camera some subjects color fringing on out-of-focus objects would be introduced but if such fringing exposure necessary would not be increased. In

' lenticulations.

could not be tolerated it could be eliminated as taught in my above identified application.

If the film resulting from the process of my invention is to be employed to print in any well known manner on film other than lenticular film, the lenticulations on the original film maybemade having smaller relative apertures, such as 13.5,

' thereby making it practical to employ more lenses Fig. 1 shows on an enlarged scalea lenticular film provided with a monopack of differently sensitized layers and a coating for optically removing the lenticulations;

Fig. 2 illustrates diagrammaticaly an arrangement for selectively fogging certain areas of the monopack layers; and s Fig, 3 illustrates the developed picture film resulting from the method of the invention.

In the practice of my invention a transparent support provided with a plurality of differentially sensitized emulsion particles orlayers is exposed to a colored image before or after which the uncoated face of the support is'provided with These lenticulations may be embossed upon the support after the camera exposure or embossed thereon at some prior time. Due to a number of dimculties involved in embossing a support having an exposed layer thereon without damaging the latent image, I prefer to employ a lenticular support and optically remove the lenticulations for making the original exposure when, such exposure is to be made through the support.

The preferred form of the invention is illustrated in Fig. 1 as comprising a transparent support I I] having minute lenticulations II on one of its faces and a plurality of differentially sensitized layers indicated as B, G and R on its other face. The lenticulations II are covered with a smooth layer l2 of some suitable readily removable transparent substance which preferably has a refractive index approximating the refractive index of the support It, whereby thelenticulations II are optically removed. This temporary coating l2 may conveniently be a broken down and readily soluble gelatin or glue which may be satisfactorily removed in cold water. The exact composition of the coating l2 will, of course, vary somewhat with the nature of the support I0 and in order to secure the proper cohesion between the coating l2 and the support l0, it may be necessary, in some cases, to first apply a sub coating thereto or to include in the gelatin solution a material having a slightly solvent action upon the support H). A suitable subbing coating for most present day commercial film base may comprise a mixture of acetone 2% gelatin and water and applied to the film at approximately a temperature of 100 F. The above examples are given merely to indicate two satisfactory procedures and anyone skilled in the art will experience no difilculty in practicing the invention by following the procedures and, of course, other well known materials may be employedfor the removable layer l2.

The number of emulsion layers provided on the support "I will depend upon the number of component colors it is desired to record or employ in the process, but, inasmuch as it is the common practice to employ three colors, I will describe my invention in detail as applied to a threecolor process. The actual colors chosen will depend upon the user and I have shown the emulsion layers as being differentially sensitized to approximately the blue, green and red as indicated respectively by the reference characters B, G and'R. Monopacks of this type are well known and, if desirable, certain of the layers may contain dyes for screening purposes and for controlling the gammas of the respective layers as is well known. For example, the first layer B will preferably contain a yellow dye which will not transmit an appreciable amount of blue light to the layers G and B. when the monopack is exposed through the support I 0. Although the screening layers may comprise separate layers between the emulsion layers B, G and R, I prefer to incorporate any such screening layers directly in the emulsions in'the interest of keeping the combined thickness of the monopack layers at a minimum for purposes well known, such as reducing color splashing and improving definition.

The film above described, is exposed through the support III to a color image which results in a latent image being present in each of the emulsion layers in accordance with the color characteristics of said image, as is well known. The temporary layer l2 of soluble transparent, varnish is thenremoved as, for instance, by washing in cold water for about ten minutes if broken down gelatin has been employed for the layer l2. The film, with the lenticulations ll restored as shown in Fig. 2, is then uniformly exposed to differently colored light in such a manner that separate areas of the monopack emulsion are exposed to light of a single color and the location of these separate areas are controlled by the lenticulations II, this exposure may readily be accomplished in the ordinary manner employed for exposing lenticular film and a conventional arrangement is shown in Fig. 2 as comprising a light source l3 which illuminates the film l0 through a banded filter, each band of which transmits light minus a different one of the colors for which the emulsion layers B, G and Rare sensitive, that is, a bluegreen zone transmits minus red light and the light transmitted by this zone and directed to an individual area behind the lens element l I will not expose the layer R, but will uniformlyfog the blue and green layers B and G. In a similar manner the magenta zone of the filter transmits minus green light which fogs the blue and red sensitive layers but does not affect the green sensitive layer and the yellow zone of the filter transmits minus blue light which does not afi'ect the blue sensitive layer but uniformly exposes the green and red layers. This supplemental or printing exposure thus leaves three unfogged areas in three different layers in registration with each lenticulation II and upon development of the film by a reversal process the fogged areas in thedifferent layers are completely bleached and become transparent and there remains only a positive silver image distributed in the three layess and it can be printed or projected in the regular manner.

It will, of course, be understood that the lenticulations II are very small and that what has been described as happening behind a single lenticulation happens behind all of the lenticulations. It is also to be understood that the exposing arrangement shown in Fig. 2 is diagrammatic in order to render this step of the process easily understandable and that, in practice, a conventional setup employing an objective lens associated with the banded filter may be used in much the same manner as it is at present used in cameras and printers for exposing lenticular film. Preferably the film will be moved nonintermittently through the printer.

If the camera exposure is to be made with the emulsion side of the film facing the incident light the emulsion layers will be arranged in a different order so that the several colors will be properly recorded. The fogging exposure step illustrated in Fig. 2 will be accomplished in the same general way but with such changes as to insure the desired selective fogging.

If the camera exposure is made through the lenticular support and with the emulsion layers in order shown in Fig. 1 a gain in definition is secured by reason of the chromatic aberration of the lenticulations working in the right direction, 1. e., the blue light is brought to a focus first and the blue sensitive layer is the closest to the lenticulations. Also the scatter of wavelengths tends in the same direction as the order of the layers.

It will be evident that in the present process the color separation in the several layers depends alone on the latent image formed as a result of sensitizing and screening and is not further complicated by the necessity of controlling the penetration of dyes and bleaching solutions as is the case when the process is completely a subtractiveone. Also that the emulsion layers may much more sensitive than corresponding layers employed in films of the catalytic bleach type.

It will also be evident to those skilled in the art that the camera exposure is greatly reduced by obtaining the color separation subtractively instead of by an additive process.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the specific structure of the film may be modified without departing from the spirit of my invention, the scope of which is pointed out in the appended claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A film for use in a photographic color picture process comprising a transparent support provided with lenticulations on one of its faces and on its other face with a plurality of emulsion layers individually sensitized to diiferent primary colors, said lenticulations and said layers being co-extensive with the picture area of the support, and a piano-surfaced layer of a removable transparent material covering and co-extensiv'e with said lenticulations.

2. A photographic film comprising a transparent support provided on its entire front surface with minute lens elements, a piano-surfaced layer of a removable transparent substance covering and coextensive with said lens elements, an emulsion layer sensitive only to blue light carried by the. rear surface of said support, two additional emulsion layers sensitized to green and red light, respectively, superposed on and behind said blue sensitive layer, and screening means in front of said green and red sensitized layers for absorbing blue light.

3. A film for use in a photographic color process comprising a transparent support provided with lenticulations on its front face and overlying its entire photographically useful area, a water soluble layer of broken down gelatin covering all of said lenticulations, the outer surface of said layer being substantially plano, a blue sensitive emulsion containing a yellow dye on the rear face of said support, and two additional emulsion layers sensitized to green and red, respectively, behind said blue sensitive layer.

4. A film comprising a base having minute lens elements entirely covering one side thereof, a removable plano-surfaced layer of a transparent material covering all of said lenselements for optically eliminating said lens elements, and three superimposed emulsion layers attached to the other side thereof, each of said layers being.

sens tized to a different one of the three primary colors, in combination with light filtering means adapted to shield two of the layers from light to which the other layer is sensitive.

JOHN G. CAPSTAFF. 

